Orpheus
by baited with hypotheses
Summary: He had always wondered if he was outside looking in, or inside looking out. But whichever side of the shattered windowpane his gaze was locked on, he could never erase the fact that he had looked back.
1. Piece One

**Orpheus**

_**TWEWY**_ and _**KH**_ are not mine.

**Summary**: He had always wondered if he was outside looking in, or inside looking out. But whichever side of the shattered windowpane his gaze was locked on, he could never erase the fact that he had looked back. He had looked back and that was what led to his own downfall.

**. . .**

**Piece One.**

"_There are many worlds, and they share the same sky - one sky, one destiny."_ – Kairi.

**. . .**

The darkness was slowly fading to azure, peach and silver outside his window. The sun extended its rays to the cold, dead world, ready to return the life it had took from everything else. Clouds swayed their dusty hips at the beat of the wind against trees. It was Monday; the first day of a new week. The day when all things would have breath in their lungs and blood in their veins. The day when normalcy would act as if it had never left. The day when he would be birthed into this new world; this new Shibuya. But something inside of him died, just as everything started living again.

Outside the glass that kept him from the world and everything else in it; streetlights blinked red, teasing and pulling at the hoi polloi's strings. A cacophony of sighs, grunts and frustrated yells echoed on the melting sidewalks. It was the same streets, the same crowds, the same hoarse songs they all shouted to the heavens.

He should have felt relieved, calm, anything but what he was feeling. There was the bitter aftertaste of what seemed like guilt. Had he truly saved them? Or was there a deeper sense of evil not even he could fathom?

He, Neku Sakuraba, did not know the answers to his questions. Or did he not even understand the questions he was asking? Everything seemed more topsy-turvey than when he was in the Game. Perhaps it was that sense of returning back to earth and to gravity when one was out, lost in space. He had returned to whatever he had left behind after death…but perhaps he was better losing the things he had already lost in the Reaper's Game. After all, there was no longer a difference between losing and gaining, trusting and not…

Something had changed ever since he had regained whatever he had lost. As he found the courage to face the music, he glanced briefly outside. And in the world beyond his own, Neku Sakuraba found what he had always thought was missing; what he thought had changed. The world then shifted into black and white; the lines being so well defined Neku thought he could almost touch them. He had known what had changed; he always had.

It was him. He had opened his world; expanded his horizons. He had let his mind wander into the thoughts of others, in hope to find the thoughts that he thought were gone. But truth be told, Neku Sakuraba was afraid of this new him. Afraid of this new world.

**. . .**

He caught a handful of fine sand in between his tanned fingers. He then wondered if every living being was just as tiny as a grain of sand compared to the worlds beyond the reality he knew. He himself had his fair share of world-hopping and saving, but Sora knew that what he did for (to?) Kingdom Hearts would never be enough.

Sometimes, he could even hear Roxas' breaths instead of his own; Roxas' voice, the deceivingly innocent mumbling that constantly walked on the faint line between light and dark, instead of his own sunlit, oceanic yells. Even Kairi couldn't let go. Sora knew that if he looked at her long enough, he would see white blonde locks instead of bright red hair; and sometimes, he would even be transported into her room inside the mansion, just for a split second.

Ever since he and Riku had fallen from the sky and into the sea—ever since he was brought back _home_—Sora had been thinking over things quite often. He had tasted danged before—_yes_— even relished in its bloody taste…but he had lost too much because of his impulsiveness, his rash and volatile emotions. And it frightened him. The insatiable hunger for danger brought a new type of fear into Sora's newly sheltered life in Destiny Islands.

He feared himself; the danger and destruction his own hands were capable of doing. More than the darkness and so much more than the light...Sora feared himself.


	2. Piece Two

**Piece Two.**

"_None shall pass but shadows, returning to the darkness."_ – Heartless Prophecy.

**. . .**

His eyes mirrored the sea. Clear blue and subtly misty, they would sometimes hold storms inside them. Of course, one would notice the storm perhaps a little too late; one would only notice the storm inside Sora after it had wreaked havoc. It wasn't like Sora wanted to reflect tempests in his sky eyes, but what choice did he have? He had learned—albeit the hard way—that the darkness was a part of light and vice versa. Roxas would always be a part of him—he had already been a part of Sora even before he himself turned into a Heartless. And now that Sora accepted the darkness, the lines that were so clear had already faded before he even knew that they had long disappeared.

"So…Raaaaa!" It was her; red hair that sometimes faded to white, a bright smile that sometimes faded to a soft smirk and innocence and naivety that more often than not faded to some kind of silent manipulation. _Kairi_. Namine. _KAIRI_.

"Sora," She was already out of breath, but a smile was plastered on her bright face, "All day you were just sitting here and staring out to the sea."

"Kairi," He responded with a half-second delay, "Do you ever wonder about the worlds beyond ours?"

"Always, Sora. Always. We've explored them, saved them. Rescued the people in them." She took a seat beside him on the warm sand. Kairi did not know where he was going. Sora had been this serious ever since he got back, but this time, she knew it was different. How he was different, she did not know, but Kairi trusted her intuition.

"…"

When he didn't reply and just looked at her, Kairi spoke again, "You've been staring at the seabed for hours now. Why, Sora?" Did he somehow find a new world? Was the evil returning? Or did Sora turn into that darkness he had always been fighting?

"It's just…" The sea tricked him. The ocean showed him a world where everything was monotone and mundane. The sights and sounds were all black and white noise. And, it was as if he was there…yet, _not_. There were a pair of headphones, too, and Sora swore he could almost hear the music. A crescendo of music that turned to noise and noise that turned to music. If Sora dipped his hand into the water, would he be transported to the foreign world inside the sea?

"…Sora?" He had told her he would just swim for a bit, and she followed him into the water. The waves danced between them and the air was scented with the comforting smell of salt. But when Kairi closed her eyes to just relax, strange music began playing. And the music frightened her, "SORA!"

**. . .**

He could still hear Kairi's voice, and her voice urged him to come back. But he chose to stay inside. Sora chose to get lost inside the water that wasn't. He was inside; in between the molecules, and it was as if he was dissolving. Sora couldn't say if it was a pleasant feeling or not, but it was certainly…refreshing. It wasn't like the time darkness consumed him; it was just nothingness…The water made him fly; made him float; and he was closer to the world inside it than he had ever been.

The streetlights appeared in front of him, blinking and shining red, green, yellow. Faceless figures waltzed pass him, as if he was just air. But he didn't feel like a ghostly apparition; Sora felt _real_. Realer than he had felt ever since he destroyed Xemnas. And so, Sora followed the music that led him there. Perhaps if he would be able to locate the source, he would be able to face himself and face his own fears. This place, after all, was a place beyond good and evil. _The place beyond the sea._

**. . .**

"_SORA!_ SORA, WHERE ARE YOU?" Kairi shrieked, thrashing at the waves. The music had disappeared—and she was thankful for that—but along with it, Sora evaporated as well. Where he had gone to, she did not know and frankly, she did not know where to look. Kairi then resurfaced from the water as she ran towards Riku's place.

She then spotted the silver-haired male, and dashed quickly towards him. But all he did was stare at her blankly. He then shifted his gaze to something beyond her; the sea.

"RIKU! RIKUUUUU…!" She grabbed a fistful of his silver hair, forcing him to look at her. He did not. Kairi felt fear at the pit of her stomach, but she pushed the feeling aside and shouted at her friend, "Riku, you have to help me! Sora…He's gone! RIKU!"

But Riku just pushed her aside, and once he was past her, he turned into thick, grey smoke. Destiny Islands then titled backwards as Kairi's perception of her world shifted. She was slipping, she knew, but there was nothing to hold on to. Sora was gone, Riku was gone. Everyone and everything she had cared for disappeared in the blink of an eye. So she let herself slip into the sea—and into the world inside it—for Kairi had nothing to lose; she had already lost everything.


End file.
